All
right....hot off the press....that was a much better read than I had
expected. To tell you the truth, I really enjoyed the Da Vinci Code
-- but the Lost Symbol, not as much. So it seemed Dan
Brown might have used up everything he had in that one huge book, to be
followed by a slow, ongoing decline. Well, clearly not. I would rate Inferno
a step lower than Da Vinci Code, but a step higher than Lost
Symbol.

If
you're wondering "What's it all about?" it's like this. Robert Langdon, our favorite Harvard symbologist and
some-time adventurer, finds himself in Florence, Italy -- in what turns
out to be a thrilling chase with medical terrorism overtones. His
accomplice is a blond-haired, pony-tailed medical doctor who also turns
out to be brilliant. You know....your average girl next door.

Her
name is Sienna Brooks, and her pairing with Langdon leads to racing
sprints through art-filled Florence, Venice and Istanbul. They are pulled forward by a
trail of clues having to do with Dante's Inferno, of course. In
that pursuit we become aware that, reminiscent of the Nazi "final solution to the Jewish problem"
in World War II, some raving genius has come up with a final solution to
the world's overpopulation problem. The Black Plague that killed huge
portions of the known world in the 1300s comes up quite a bit.

I
don't want to go into the storyline more than that, because it really is a
pain when someone gives away the critical twists and the ending. But
be assured that Dan Brown shows he still knows how to weave intricate
plots and keep things on the move. He also shows
extensive familiarity with great artworks, the cities involved, and
Medieval events that affected Dante and his world.

This
rang a bell, because I had written a book about the Knights Templar -- and noted that when many of them were burned at the stake it
inspired Dante to write his Inferno. So it was good to see Dan throw a few mentions in that direction. He even
had Robert Langdon slyly comment that his
favorite Harris Tweed jackets have a red Templar cross sewn into their
label. The Templars and Crusades were, of course, active in all three cities that Langdon visits in this heart-pounding quest.

But
if I had to pick two things that set this Dan Brown novel apart, one
would be his knack for weaving clever clues into the most amazing places
and devices. The other thing is his innate ability to imagine remarkable,
capable women who prove to be important in his thrillers. The Da Vinci
Code had that, but the Lost Symbol, not quite as much. He is
definitely back on the right track in Inferno.

This
book review also includes a huge section of illustrations that show many of
this novel's people, places
and things. It makes your reading experience that much better when you
can actually see what is going on.

Previously
Posted

Chapter
one of Dan Brown's Inferno opens in a hospital bed with our
hero Robert Langdon dazed and confused. He feverishly imagines visions of
Dante's Inferno, then comes out of it to realize he cannot remember
what happened before the "accident" that landed him in the
hospital. He is questioned by an attractive female doctor, and it is implied that he is suspected of having done something
wrong. His clothes on the nearby counter are soaked in blood. Outside, a
punk-looking woman gets off her motorcycle holding a gun and looks up at
his hospital room window.

It
is a great "thriller" beginning, but it comes with good news and
bad news. The bad news is that this opening follows The Da Vinci Code
almost step for step. So is this book going to be "been-there,
done-that?"

Do
these things in Inferno look familiar?

Hints of murder, Langdon is questioned....is he suspected?

Attractive young professional woman is there right away....his companion in
this story?

An unappealing and dangerous stalker....is his life in danger?

A trail of clues....with the divine feminine replaced by Dante's Inferno.

An art-filled European city....with Paris replaced by Florence.

So
we have seen it all before. But the good news is that The Da Vinci Code
was a heck of a good story. If Dan can shake off the similar beginning and
make Inferno go in new and unexpected directions, this may yet be
the great thriller we all know he is capable of producing.

Especially
intriguing in Inferno is the woman who comes to Langdon’s bedside
early in the novel, Dr. Sienna Brooks. Yes, this is Dan Brown writing, so
it takes place in a hospital rather than in romantic moonlight. Even so,
she is captivating. In her early thirties, she appears before him in blue
scrubs with her blond hair tied back into a ponytail that swings behind
her as she comes to him. Will she be a major player in what is to happen?
Do birds fly south in winter? Take that as a “Yes.”

Dan Brown Inferno Book Review

Dan Brown Inferno Book Review

A
Peek Into the Rest of the Story
-- Inferno Book Review

You
almost certainly remember Robert Langdon from
his previous tours of duty in Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code and The Lost
Symbol. This time the intrepid professor from Harvard -- who seems to
spend very little time at Harvard -- is off to Florence in Italy.
Unlike most tourists who are there for the Chianti wine and artworks such
as Michelangelo's towering and graceful statue of David, Landon is on his
way to hell. Or, as they say in Italy, inferno.

Michelangelo's
David

By
great coincidence, the epic poem Inferno was written by Dante
Alighieri who was born and raised in Florence. And by a further stroke of
good luck, Dante's Inferno was filled with symbolic language -- and
Langdon is an expert in symbology! Dan Brown gets all the breaks. As I
noted in an earlier article, Dante began to write his Inferno just
after the Knights Templar were arrested by King Philip of France and Pope
Clement. Many of those Templars were burned to death on flaming pyres,
while others of their Order escaped and disappeared. Those Templars in
flames created searing images that inspired Dante to write his magnificent
Inferno.

Templars
being burned at the stake

When
powerful but shadowy forces begin to shepherd pieces into place around
Robert Langdon, Dante's Inferno becomes a source of clues for our
master symbologist to decipher. But wait, there's more!

Dante's Inferno by
Gustave Dore

The
collapse of the wealthy Templar Order caused their financial
empire to come crashing down. That opened the door for small bankers to
grow, and one of the most aggressive was the tiny Medici Bank that grew to
be the largest and most influential in Europe. The home of the Medici
bankers? Florence, of course. Their wealth created a dynasty that ruled
Florence for many generations. In the 1500s Cosimo de' Medici built
secretive passageways that also figure into Langdon's feverish pursuits
through the city.

Passageway
crosses bridge above shops

The
Templars who
survived those fiery attacks escaped to live in secrecy outside the law.
That act of defiance grew into a rebellion that gave them a measure
of revenge on the Vatican and kings who had attacked them. Their story is
now told in Sworn in Secret: Freemasonry and the Knights
Templar. It
reads like a Dan Brown novel, with its trail of clues that reveal the struggles between Templars and the
Vatican, but these are real people and events.

When
many Templars were burned to death after 1307, it inspired Dante to write
his Inferno. That in turn inspired Dan Brown to write his
Inferno. But the story of the surviving Templars is in many ways as
fascinating as those two works of fiction.

Templars

Intriguing
new sources light up this stirring story of the Knights Templar. By
following the lives of individual knights we get to experience their rise,
fall and survival. Those who avoided being burned at the stake were forced
to live in secret outside the law. In
time they had their revenge on kings and the Vatican for their fallen
brothers.